DESCRIPTION: (Adapted from applicant's description) Cells of the germline are potentially immortal and carry the genome from generation to generation. Analyses of germ cell development, growth and differentiation in a variety of species has begun to reveal some of the regulatory hierarchies that control these processes. Segregated from the somatic cell lineages during embryonic development, germ cells must retain (or regain) developmental totipotency to give rise to an egg cell that is totiposperm. What distinguishes a germ cell from a somatic cell? How is totipotency regulated in the germline? What factors regulate meiosis and genetic recombinations? How are the processes of X chromosome inactivation and imprinting regulated in germ cells? How can the germline be manipulated? The meeting will address these and other key questions by comparing and contrasting research in a number of experimental organisms.